It Ain't Gonna Rain No More

House and Baby

2011-04-20T16:40:00.003-04:00

I'll post pictures eventually, but not only did we find a house but we're all moved in! It's a cute little brick thing only a few miles from our old apartment and there wasn't anything that needed desperate repair besides the fuse box. Yes, that's how old it was, it was an actual fuse box. We had an electrician completely take it out and install a nice, big breaker box and that was the only thing that needed to happen. Dan did paint the walls in the two bedrooms and the living room. We also had brand new carpet installed because I suspect the previous carpet was older than we are. It was a lovely shade of orange (Dan called it "skinned Garfield") in the spots that weren't worn down (like where the previous owner's couch had been) and was coming up at the edges of the room. Now that the paint and carpet are done, we'll be unpacking and getting ready for the baby :)

I'm now in the middle of my 35th week. In two weeks, the baby will officially be considered "full term" but we still want him to stay in as long as he can. Sleeping more than 4 hours straight is pretty much impossible. I've definitely had Braxton Hicks Contractions for the last several weeks now, and I suspect that the baby has either dropped or is in the process of dropping. I've felt heavier and it's harder to walk because it's getting painful in the hip/pelvic area. I also had two separate people yesterday asked me if the baby dropped because it looked like I was carrying lower than usual. My next appointment is next week and I think that I start going every week after that. I do know for sure that they will be checking to see if I've dilated at all next week, which I'm kind of excited about but I have a feeling it will be annoying having it done every week.

We found out almost a month ago, that enrollment at the school where I work was down. They set a deadline to receive enrollments by and if it wasn't met then the school couldn't open in the fall. The number needed wasn't met, not even close. I had been undecided about going back because of the baby anyway, so that decision was made for me, but I empathize with the other teachers and students who have to uproot and move. I still have my part-time contracting job, so no matter what happens, I'll have that in the fall. We're hoping that Dan will be able to get a good full-time job (with or without benefits, we can get our own if necessary) so that I won't have to work unless it's just on his days off for extra cash.

And that's where we are right now. Today is the start of Easter Break at school, I don't have to go back until Tuesday, so it's a 5-day weekend XD I'll be spending the break unpacking and organizing as much as I can. I won't get much of a break and I didn't have one three weeks ago during Spring Break because that was when we moved into the house and that took all week. At least I'll be able to sleep in.

Baby Update :)

2011-02-26T07:57:00.003-05:00

As I write this, I am nearly at the end of my 27th week (the picture above was taken last week). Depending on what charts you look at, I'm either at the very, very end of my 2nd trimester or just finished the first week of my 3rd. Apparently this transition is open to interpretation. Judging by the fact that I'm getting slight bouts of nausea back again, I'm saying that I've hit the 3rd. All my symptoms (with the exception of the exhaustion) switched off as soon as I hit my 2nd trimester, so why wouldn't they switch back on when I hit my 3rd? Nausea is supposed to come back and the exhaustion doesn't get better, it gets worse as I get bigger and attempt to find comfortable positions to sleep in. Technically I'm not really supposed to be sleeping on my back anymore, which just leaves either side. Turning over is a challenge, my stomach muscles are shot and basically no good for anything besides holding the baby up, so I end up having to swing my hips around. I didn't realize how much I used my stomach muscles for until I couldn't really use them at all.

My belly at 25 weeks. Crazy amount of stretch marks or "Flames of Creation" as one of my books calls them.

At 22 weeks, the baby was measuring around 1.5 pounds, which means he's well over 2 now. Since our 19 week ultrasound, he has been measuring big, the last ultrasound he was measuring 4 weeks ahead of where he actually is! I'm not sure how that is going to translate into how big he will end up being, I really hope it doesn't mean that he ends up coming early! I'm only taking the week before my due date off work, I really don't want to go into labor two weeks early and not only explain to the kids why I'm leaving in the middle of class, but also drive all that distance to the hospital!

My favorite ultrasound yet. Done at 22 weeks, he has his hands and feet up by his face!

This coming week I will be going in for my glucose test, where they find out if I've developed gestational diabetes. It's also a regular checkup and my doctor is out of town so I'll be meeting one of the other OBs in the practice which is fine. I have to go in a few minutes early so they can give me this sugary drink, then I do my checkup, then sit around for an hour and wait to see how my body handles the sugar rush. It's no big deal, but they have to draw my blood in order to do it which means that I have to go during normal hours while the phlebotomist is there and that means time off from work. Normally, I'd just take a sick day and be done with it, but it's report card time and we've already had one snow day mess with the exam schedule and we don't want it to have affected the report card and grading schedule as well. So depending on how quickly the appointment goes, I'll be heading back to school to work on report cards. After that appointment, I'll be going in every two weeks for checkups until the baby's born. I don't know if I'll be getting anymore ultrasounds or not, I want to see the baby but then I don't want to pay the bill, so either way I'm happy ;)

Pregnancy on a Budget

2011-01-27T07:29:00.002-05:00

Maternity clothes are expensive when they're brand new, there's no way around that. I have managed to find a way around some full-priced things and save myself some money.

Clothing:

1) Bras - If you're like me and had to buy new ones almost every month, don't even look at the maternity or nursing bras, head straight to the sale rack at Target or Wal Mart. I got several bras for $5-$7 each in varying sizes so that I'll have room to "grow" ;) Also, I was well-endowed to begin with, so going larger meant sacrificing the pretty bras, they simply don't make them after a certain point. The other thing I found is that bras with little-to-no padding will last me longer and be more comfortable. My problem is that it's winter time and I don't need to broadcast to my whole school that I'm chilly. Solution: I took the small pads out of my bathing suit top (since I won't be using it until summer anyway) and use them with my current bra as I need them. I imagine nursing pads may do the same thing though I don't own any of those yet. I did score a nursing bra from the sale rack and it's been my sleeping bra, I like having it so I know what to expect when I actually have to start wearing them all the time.

2) Sleepwear - I do not own a single piece of maternity sleepwear. The idea is kind of ridiculous to me. I generally sleep in big shirts and comfy lounge pants and at 23 weeks (or 6 months) pregnant, I'm still doing that very comfortably. As long as your shirts are a size or two bigger than what you normally wear and your pants have an elastic waist, you'll be fine. I've seen some big sleep-shirt-nightgown things (that are non-maternity) and those probably work just as well too. I will also resort to stealing my husbands clothes if it comes down to that, though he's offered his clothes to me several times already. If you don't have a husband/boyfriend, typically men's clothes can be cheaper than women's clothes anyway. Again, check Target or Wal Mart.

3) Underwear - Now there could be a very good reason for maternity underwear, I don't have any so I can't really say one way or the other. I can tell you that at 23 weeks, I have not felt so completely uncomfortable in regular underwear that I've been tempted into heading to Motherhood and buying maternity underwear. I generally wear the "bikini" cut or "hip-huggers" and so far those have been perfectly fine. The only pairs that I haven't been 100% comfortable in were the pairs that were a bit on the small side anyway, but that's just an excuse to remember to throw out old underwear.

4) Pants - My first trimester was interesting. I couldn't tell if I started showing early or was just self-conscious about my stomach. Either way, I definitely wasn't fitting into my pre-pregnancy pants anymore. I went and bought a BeBand from Target for $17 and it was one of the best investments I've made during this pregnancy. There are other brands out there (BellaBand is a popular one but more expensive) for around the same price, Target's is on the lower side of the spectrum. What these elastic bands let you do is wear your pre-pregnancy pants unbuttoned and the band will flatten the button/button-hole against your body and keep your pants up all at the same time. Dress pants (my dress code at work) are expensive regardless of whether they're maternity or not, so I expanded my options to include how I could keep wearing the pants I already had since I had only slightly out-grown them. That was where the BeBand came into play. I wore that up to around 19 weeks which coincided with Christmas break, when I got maternity dress pants for Christmas, and have currently retired my BeBand since I have several pairs of maternity pants that actually fit now.

5) Thrift/Consignment Stores/Sale Racks - These should be your first stop when shopping for clothes. Our thrift store only has a teeny maternity section, but my mom managed to find me 3 pairs of pants (all that fit!) and a couple of shirts for much less than even Motherhood's sale rack. Consignment shops are more for kids stuff, but it's good to scope those out ahead of time so that when you do need to start buying clothes you already know where they are in your area. Sale racks are probably my favorite place in any store, maternity or otherwise. Old Navy has a tiny maternity section behind their kids section and when their stuff goes on sale, it's a good sale. I got an awesome pair of jeans from them for $15 (normal price is $30) and they're not "mom jeans", from the waist down, they look just like my pre-pregnancy jeans. I can continue wearing my style of jeans and be just as comfortable for half the price. I also recommend picking up a couple of tank tops when they're on sale. I use mine for sleeping or as an undershirt (one of the maternity shirts I was given is really low cut, but looks cute with a tank under it) and will definitely be picking up more when I see them on sale.

Non-Clothing-Related Savings:

6) Nursery Decorations - The reasons I know about maternity on a budget is because, well, mine's not huge. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE all those cute nursery sets where everything matches including the rug, but for us they simply aren't practical to get. See my post in my other blog for Decorating a Nursery For $15. Cute decorations can be done on a budget and I tend to think that when you're limited in one way, it forces you to be creative and end up with something you'll love even more.

7) 3D Ultrasounds - Here's the deal: these ultrasounds are elective which means that your insurance probably won't cover them at all. My insurance has a huge deductible and I end up paying full price for everything anyway, including the diagnostic ultrasounds that most insurance carriers only make you pay a co-pay. Diagnostic ultrasounds cost way more at full price than 3D ultrasounds for a very good reason: they are examining your baby looking for potential problems and eventually your report will be sent to your doctor to be looked over again. I went to an elective ultrasound place (That's My Baby in Bowie, MD) for their Gender Monday special. The special was $40 for a 2D ultrasound and gender validation/determination. You can read the full details in my blog entry about it, but the short version is we also were given a peek at the baby in 3D and let me tell you, I'm glad we only paid for the 2D. I'm not sure what exactly the deal was with our 3D not being as clear as other 3D ultrasounds that I've seen, could have been the fluid around the baby, could have been he was a bit small, or it could be that 3D ultrasounds can be hit or miss when it comes to clarity. I had been toying with the idea of asking for one of That's My Baby's 3D packages for my birthday, but after seeing the fuzzy, blobby image that day, I'm switching my birthday request to a maternity photo shoot.

8) Baby Gear - We're in the process of looking for a house. At first we had found one and the inspection came back and there was no way we could take it (too much damage for a stater house with a baby on the way), so now we're unsure if we'll be moving at all before the baby's born. With space in mind, I started looking at Pack 'N Plays or Play Yards instead of a traditional wooden crib. I like Babies 'R Us for one thing: the store is family/pregnancy-friendly for set up. Their cribs, strollers, and car seats are all eye level or lower. Wal Mart and Target have a tendency to put their cribs and strollers up on a shelf where you can only look at them from the side. You don't get an idea of how high the crib sides are or if the stroller will accommodate your height. I don't like Babies 'R Us because it's a collection of name-brand gear/clothing at name-brand prices. So, I do my research there (I'm told they will let you borrow demo car seats to see what actually fits in your car, I will be trying this soon), then compare prices between Wal Mart, Target, and Amazon. Currently Wal Mart has the best prices on brands like Graco, but their in-store selection is wimpy. When it comes to choosing between Wal Mart and Target, it seems you'll have to weigh the price difference with the shipping cost unless you can get really, really lucky and find the exact item you want in-store. Me? I'm not picky. I don't care if my car seat, stroller, and crib match or not, I really don't. If I save myself a couple hundred dollars and the gear is mismatched, I'm a happy camper.

9) Baby Clothes - Since I told my family that I was pregnant, they have not stopped buying outfits. The outfits changed to gender-based once we found out I was having a boy, but every other week it seems I'm being handed another adorable outfit. Dan and I have only actually bought maybe 3 articles of clothing (technically 6 because one was a set of 3, but w/e) and that's a mere fraction of what we've accumulated so far. I read an article that suggested not even registering for baby clothes because those are the things people love to buy for baby showers. Even though I haven't had any showers yet, I can tell you that theory holds up just based off my family. When Dan and I walked into Babies 'R Us (with gift cards mind you) after finding out we're having a boy, we looked around at the various racks of boy clothes. I picked up a simply adorable zip-up hoodie with a pirate skull and crossbones on it. It was maybe a 6-9mo size and the price tag: $20. I put it back. It was not cute enough to blow an entire gift card on one hoodie that he'll only be wearing for a few months (if that many, by the time he'll need hoodies he would have outgrown that one). The sale rack was much more promising. Things were between $5 and $10 and between the two of us picking things out, we only used one gift card instead of both for several things (including a tuxedo t-shirt onezie, score!). Bottom line: don't register for baby clothes, you'll probably end up being given more than you'll need and when you do need to start buying clothes hit up those consignment shops we talked about. The consignment shops only put out the gently-used clothes, unless you have a really shady shop, the used-and-abused clothing doesn't come out at all. Like thrift stores, you can find name-brand stuff for a mere fraction of the original price, sometimes with tags still on it!

10) Toys - Last but not least. Toys are another thing that I have not actually paid for but somehow accumulated over the last couple of months. This is another thing that people will just give you. I put some cute things on my registry, but not a whole lot. We're especially not going crazy at Christmas because the kid is going to be playing in the boxes of whatever we get him anyway. I told my parents they can buy what they want, I'm wrapping empty boxes the first year or two ;) I still have a bunch of stuffed animals from my high school years and I will probably be re-gifting those to the baby for as long as I can get away with it. Also, if there are toys you've been given but aren't terribly fond of (my sister claims she's getting me all noisy toys), re-gift them at another baby shower. It's done all the time and saves you the money of having to buy a gift. Seriously, if it's something you really aren't fond of or can't use at all, don't feel obligated to open it just because it's a gift. Either re-gift it or donate it but don't let it take up space collecting dust (space is another thing we're currently short on).

Definitely Having a Boy :)

2011-01-18T05:19:00.004-05:00

His leg and foot. The tech said he has big hands and feet already!

Yesterday was "Gender Monday" at an elective ultrasound place in Bowie. I found them several weeks ago when researching 3D ultrasounds (which I am no longer interested in, they're not that much better than the normal 2D ones) and I knew that I would have MLK day off so I made an appointment. Gender Monday is where they will do a 2D ultrasound, determine/validate your baby's gender and give you four prints from your session. It's also a customer-oriented company so they do a lot to make sure their customers are comfortable and happy. It was a small place with apparently only one person actually working there, but she was very friendly and a good ultrasound tech.

Definitely a boy, his umbilical cord was clearly visible in another shot and farther up his stomach.

Since it wasn't a medical diagnostic ultrasound, we invited family to come along. In the end, my mom and Dan's parents were the ones who came and they were very happy that we had invited them. The ultrasound room had plenty of space and a couch for family to sit on, the ultrasound was also projected onto the wall so everyone had a really clear view of what was going on :) I had an ultrasound done at 19 weeks to rule out anomalies, but the baby was not super cooperative and they got what they needed to see but we only got two pictures of his profile and they look almost the same. They didn't end up getting too many views of his heart and I have to go back later this week just for that, but I'm very glad that I made the appointment at That's My Baby.

3D picture #1, if you don't look at a big version, you can make out some detail.

Our tech even threw in a couple 3D shots, which was super cool of her. We took a quick 3D peek since he was being so good (although not at first, he had his hands up by his face, she had to poke him around a bit) and I have to say, I'm glad I didn't pay for it. I don't know if it's just that I'm 22 weeks along and other 3D pictures I've seen have been older babies (like 35 weeks), or if that's just the way 3D looks sometimes, but it was pretty blobby and not very detailed. We can tell that he's got chubby cheeks (which I could even see on the 19 week ultrasound profile, so that was no surprise), my chin, and probably Dan's nose. When we were looking at the 3D, they felt out of focus to me, and I liked the 2D much better because they felt clearer. We got more 2D pictures than 3D (yay) and we also got more than the 4 prints the package said it included. We got 9 pictures total and most of them are pretty good.

3D picture #2. You can see his chubby cheeks better here, his head still looks really big.

I was telling the tech about how at my last ultrasound they estimated my due date to be sooner than it really is because of how big he's getting. She did a quick measurement and said that her equipment was saying the same thing, that instead of measuring to be a 22 week baby, he was more like a 26 week baby! She estimated his weight at 2lbs. which is crazy because he was measuring around 12oz. at 19 weeks. So in a mere 3 weeks, he gained over a pound. I did some math and figured that if that rate of growth stays about the same, he'll be 8 pounds or more when he's born. I can handle 8 pounds. Dan was 10 and I was 6 so 8 is literally meeting in the middle ;)

I'm off to bed now. I was killing time waiting to see if school would announce a delay or a snow day, and they announced a snow day. I'll only be working 2 actual days this week (I have Friday off for the medical ultrasound and yesterday was the holiday), which I have to say is pretty nice.

New iPod + Podcasts = Life is Good.

2010-12-26T10:39:00.000-05:00

Through creative use of gift cards and extra money earned on the side, my hubby's present to me was an iPod Nano that we got to order yesterday (no standing in line, free shipping, and free engraving!). I immediately went to iTunes and looked through pregnancy podcasts and found one that I haven't been able to stop listening to even though the iPod isn't here yet! Pregtastic has been a great resource since I'm the first of some of my friends to be pregnant. I get to hear actual new moms (and experienced moms) talk about what's going on with them, ups and downs, and just have real conversations about worries, appointments, registries, and baby shower etiquette. I get to feel like I'm a part of these conversations and reading on the internet and in books has been helpful too, but this podcast has made things feel more real and it gives all the information I've read a context.

Month 5: Feeling Pretty Good!

2010-12-22T05:44:00.002-05:00

Monday was the first day of my 5th month and (for the most part) I've got my energy back and I'm not too big that I can't get my shoes on yet ;) Definitely getting bigger though and I'll have more belly pictures up soon. Blogger is still having issues with letting me put up pictures, only worse now because I can't get mobile uploads to work anymore. I have no idea what's going on and it's frustrating.

Dishydrosis is mostly gone, there's only a little bit that hasn't quite cleared up yet, thankfully. It's only noticeable by me now and I'm quite happy about that. Today is our last day of school before Christmas break and I cannot WAIT for this break. My goal is to clean the apartment but we'll see how that goes. If I can clean parts of the apartment, I'll be happy. I'll also be working on lesson plans and stuff over break because when I come back, I'll be 20 weeks, and I'll need to be prepared in case I can't make it to class for any reason. I'm hoping to take off the week before I'm due but we'll see if that actually happens. I'm going to be as ready as possible in the meantime for someone else to take over my classes.

Lack of pictures

2010-11-20T13:45:00.000-05:00

Blogger's photo servers have been messed up for me for a while now. I've only been able to add pictures using my phone which is soooo not how I always want to do it. It's not like I have anything particularly picture-worthy to upload at this point, but it severely limits my motivation to post when I know there's an aspect missing.

In other news, officially in my 2nd trimester, yayness! I go in for my next appointment this coming Tuesday and I'm hoping we'll be able to hear the heartbeat :)

I also need to talk to my doctor about my nasty dyshidrosis, which is a rash that I usually get on my fingers every June (probably because of the change in humidity or something) but for whatever reason it started right about the time I got pregnant. I've read that hormones can initiate the rash, which would explain how it started when I got pregnant and not in June like it usually does (and did earlier this year). The treatment is typically a steroid cream, but from what I've read online, they haven't been listed as safe for pregnancy and mothers only use them when the benefits for them outweigh the risks for the baby. Initially, it wasn't that bad and I figured I could deal. It's pretty much exploded and is now almost covering a whole finger, moved on in small bits to other fingers, my palm, and even my other hand. It's itchy and no fun, which is why I'm hoping either she'll OK the cream or give me something else I can use that is safe for pregnancy and will get rid of this nasty hting. If I have to go 5 more months without anything, both of my hands are going to be covered and gross. The kids in my classes have started to notice, though mostly they're young enough I can get away with "boo boo" and move on.

I also need to get a flu shot eventually...So far the kids at school haven't been out too much with the flu, I think when they start staying home with it, I'll get one. Although, it might already be too late at that point.

Most posts in a year

2010-11-03T22:58:00.000-04:00

My last post was officially the record in this blog for having more posts than previous years. I've been writing on and off since 2007, which is pretty amazing considering I tend to start blogs and then abandon them. 2007 was the contender to beat with 14 posts and the post prior to this one was #15 for this year. With lots more to come worth posting about, I'm sure that the record will get set much higher by 2011 :)

Say "Hi" :)

2010-10-31T20:18:00.000-04:00

I am completely and totally in love with this picture. Our first OB appointment went really well, I love my doctor (only been to her once before, I had recently switched). We could actually see the heartbeat on the sonogram, which was amazing. Then, when the above picture was taken, the baby was actually moving around like crazy! According to the doctor, everything looks really good, at the time of the appointment I was right around 10 weeks, which is right according to the baby's measurements and the date of my last period. With a heartbeat like we saw on the sonogram, and being farther than 8 weeks, I've passed a hurdle and now the chance of miscarriage is way, way down. That was a huge relief and we made the pregnancy "Facebook Official" when we got home after the appointment. My biggest fear with putting it on Facebook too early was that we'd announce it, then at the appointment couldn't see anything and have to re-announce that it wasn't a viable pregnancy. But that didn't happen, and Baby is looking happy and healthy so far!

Got some better prenatal vitamins, there's two pills, one is chewable and one you swallow, but since there's the chewable one, the one to swallow can be smaller. It's way better than what I had before, the chewable pill tastes like pop-tarts, which is awesome. My nausea seems to have dissipated for now, it went away Monday or Tuesday earlier this week. I woke up one day for work and didn't have any morning sickness like I'd had the last several weeks and it (knock on wood) hasn't come back yet. I'm hoping it stays away for good, but as far as symptoms go, it could have been way worse. My back hurts every day and I can't tell if it's related to hormone changes or the fact that my boobs are perpetually growing. I went out yesterday and bought bigger bras.

I went to Target and got whatever was on sale that was a size up from what I normally wear. I also wore my maternity dress for the first time yesterday, and it felt good. Partly because it was comfortable and partly because I can't wait to get into more maternity clothes and to start showing. I know at the end of the pregnancy, I'll probably be laughing at myself and wishing to have the baby so my stomach isn't so huge anymore. The new bras definitely make me more comfortable, which helps a whole lot, and I know the rest of the pregnancy will be all about comfort!

Happy News :)

2010-10-24T20:42:00.001-04:00

Few things are more awkward than peeing on a stick, you have to hold it just right for just the right length of time, then you have to keep it pretty much flat while attempting to clean it off because let's face it, you're putting that sucker on the counter and not in the sink. But yes, I am pregnant! It took a little while, but I know that's because the timing wasn't just right. Now I have a new job, Dan's out of his horrible one (still looking for a new one but that will fall into place when it's supposed to) and everything about it feels so right.

We are super excited, and the family and friends that we've told so far couldn't be happier for us! I have my first appointment this Wednesday and I'm stoked!!! I'm really hoping they do an ultrasound, even though we'll be paying for the whole appointment out of pocket (current insurance has a super high deductible, not to mention I've been signed up with them for almost two weeks and they've only sent vision cards so far), but I know first appointments can be expensive already because they do blood tests and stuff to confirm pregnancy. So we'll see. I plan on calling the office tomorrow or Tuesday just to get an idea of what we'll be looking at for cost as well as getting on a payment plan (even if I can do half-and-half that would be good).

My mom and a friend have already started buying stuff! My mom has bought some one-zies for when Baby gets a little bigger, in addition to some bath towels (neutral stuff with duckies on it, so cute!). My friend got a Dexter bib which is AWESOME, she says she'll get another one if/when we find out gender because there are more but they're either pink or blue.

I'm mostly just fighting nausea, nothing too bad but that's pretty much the one symptom I have a rough time with. Even when I get sick, I can put up with sore throat, cough, runny nose, just not nausea, that wipes me out. I have a fairly high pain tolerance, I can put up with pain (which I've also been doing, the craps have pretty much stopped, which is nice--had those for a couple of weeks--now I've got lower back pain on and off), but this nausea just gets me. It could definitely be worse, I'm not trowing up every day or anything, but smells will get me, especially rotting/old food. Oh darn, that means I can't take out the trash ;) It pretty much comes on when my stomach gets empty, which sucks because the last thing I want to do when I'm nauseated is eat. Ginger Ale and Saltines are my best friends in the mornings especially or when I need a quick snack between meals. I'm also supposed to be taking prenatal vitamins, but the ones I bought are:
a) huge, they're like horse pill size, I've had to bite them in half just to be able to swallow them,
b) really nasty smelling/tasting, shouldn't they taste like chocolate so pregnant women will actually want to take them?
c) they make me nauseated, and
d) I read the ingredients and turns out their coating is made with soy products which means that I can sort of justify not taking these particular ones because of my allergies.
When I see my doctor I'm going to talk to her about getting liquid prenatal vitamins so it's easier to take. I am being good about medications though. I know that one of my two allergy-related medications is safe to take during pregnancy but the other is not, so I stopped that as soon as I found out I was pregnant, and I don't take anything without first checking whether it's ok or not. I'm trying not to eat too much bad stuff, but there was a whole week where all food made me feel sick except fast food. Now I can eat things prepared at home, except sandwiches, which is odd but I can deal.

One month in...

2010-10-15T17:37:00.000-04:00

I'm having a good time with this job! It has it's ups and downs, there have been days where I've been stressed (lol, this past week when an entire book fair was dumped on me LAST WEEK to run), but then there's moments when the Kindergarteners are giving me hugs or when the 8th graders put things like "jail" under "an ecosystem near where you live", that make me smile and enjoy it.

The teaching aspect has been interesting, as well as the IT support part. The kids are all, well, kids so some days are better than others for behavior, but most of the time they're great. I managed to get through some basics in Excel with the 4th and 5th graders this week, they learned what a "cell" is, how to highlight, and also how to do graphs (they liked the pie charts). Several of the boys also figured out how to add lightning bolts and smiley faces, which I was fine with because it meant they were learning the program.

The IT part has been really interesting, since I basically know nothing about servers, switches, printers, networks, etc. I know what they are, but I couldn't begin to tell you how they work or how to troubleshoot when a problem occurs. The normal IT guy has been really great about showing me some basics that they won't have to pay him to do anymore (downloading upgrades and running spyware checks), so I've been learning and I like learning.

I'm getting ready to teach my first elective after Thanksgiving. The first one will be knitting and then in the spring I'll be teaching video production. I'm super excited to teach an elective because it's a subject I want to teach and therefore will be something I really enjoy. Especially the video production. Also the knitting will be awesome because I'll be able to work on my projects in class (ie get paid to ;) ) and get a new generation into knitting. So that will be awesome.

The end of this year and the beginning of next are looking up.

GOT THE JOB!!!!

2010-09-07T19:17:00.000-04:00

I got the job I applied for! My crazy confidence paid off and they hired me! I have BTS tomorrow and Thursday (which stands for Back To School, nights where parents come and meet the teachers) and then I start in the classroom on Monday! I've seen my schedule already (although if it's for just next week or the whole semester I'm not sure, either way it looks great!) and I can't wait to see the curriculum and start supplementing and coming up with fun things to do!

"Viable Option"

2010-09-04T11:29:00.000-04:00

In the last two weeks, I had my first and second interview at a Catholic school in Cooksville (out in the boonies of Howard Co.). They're looking for a media teacher. Initially, this isn't something that I would have applied for, since working towards a government video position has been my goal for the last year. However, things happen for a reason and Dan and I found ourselves in a situation where applying for a salaried job with benefits that is hiring NOW (as opposed to possibly, maybe, sometime in the future...) was a good idea. A very good idea.

I got a call yesterday evening from the lovely assistant principal who didn't want to leave me hanging this long Labor Day weekend. She let me know that I'm still a viable option for the position and that they would finish calling my references Tuesday and that I would know one way or the other by next week. I knew that they had been calling my references and from what it sounds like, I think it might be a close tie between me and at least one other person for the position. Now, it is a teaching position (I would see each grade, PreK3-8th, once a week) but also a support position. I would be called on by other teachers to assist with technical problems or call the IT person if it's something I can't handle myself. I do lack significantly in the teaching experience aspect, especially in a traditional classroom setting. The most I have is from when I taught karate, and even then, I really only have some basic classroom management skills and that's about it. I'm not sure who's worried more about my lack of teaching experience, me or them! It very much seems like they're working to find the person who is the "right fit" for the position, whether the fit includes teaching experience or not.

From what I understand, many of the applicants are qualified in either one field required or the other. Some people are teachers, but may not have the technological skills needed, or others are like me. It is a hybrid position, created from two part-time positions. It also includes being the librarian and teaching the children about print in addition to the technology. I do know that both of my interviews went really well. I'm not sure if it's the fact that I'm currently employed by a well-paying job or the fact that I'm fine with either outcome, but I had this confidence that I've never had in an interview before! Everyone I spoke with was very nice, I was completely comfortable with them and with myself, I love that because it's a Catholic environment, I got to mention my faith and talk about how I'm still trying to figure out where God wants me right now. I think that was the easiest, and best part. Most of the time, with other interviews, the "why here?" question is difficult. With these interviews, besides mentioning what a great school it is and how much I love their mission, I also got to talk about my faith journey. While I've had a lot of jobs that seem unrelated to each other or my major, God only helps those who help themselves and finding the place He wants me to be isn't going to be easy but I need to get out there and at least try!

If I'm not supposed to get the position, then I continue waiting to hear about a video position with the government and I at least got some (really good) practice interviews about of the deal. I still can't explain where my confidence came from, usually I'm a nervous wreck who over-analyzes things, I can only hope that in my next interview(s), wherever it may be, I'll be able to be just as confident and sure of myself!

Sleeve 1: Done-ish

2010-07-09T23:36:00.000-04:00

Sleeve 1 just needs to have the tails weaved in, other than that it's looking pretty awesome!

Sleeve 2 is in progress now. I got through the cast on and bottom cuff pretty quickly today. I'm several rounds into the body and already I can see that there will be a difference in the stripes, they'll be thinner and it looks like there will be more of them winding around. I'm excited to see how it'll turn out!

Siren Sleeves Update

2010-07-07T23:21:00.000-04:00

Still working on the first sleeve, having a knitting date with Theo tomorrow, hopefully she can at least explain to me what in the world I'll be doing for the "thumb gusset". I understand the words that I'm reading, I just have no idea how to actually put them into action. Otherwise, I'm having a lot of fun knitting these in the round.

I wasn't paying attention today while I was working on it, and I couldn't figure out why the needles were suddenly more awkward to hold than usual. I look down and I've got waaaaay too many stitches piling up--I had forgotten to re-introduce my free needle and was using two occupied needles to knit. Luckily, it was an easy fix (only working with 16 stitches per needle) because I hadn't gotten too far.

Crappy webcam pic aside, the spiral of colors is coming out nicer than I had expected! I can't wait to see what the other one will look like! I was going to say something else, but I forgot. Oh well.

For all you non-knitters, knitting with multiple double-pointed needles (or dpns) looks a little something like this:

I'm using four needles (3 to hold the stitches and one working needle), but it can go higher than that, depends on the project.

New yarn and 6 cast ons later...

2010-07-04T09:58:00.000-04:00

Turns out my problem was DEFINITELY the yarn. It was way too slippery and couldn't hold the stitches in the gauge I was using and since I was at Micheal's with a friend yesterday (she was getting yarn and needles), I spotted some delicious new yarn and scooped it up. It's a worsted weight, not a sport weight, so the gloves will be a bit heavier than the pattern calls for, but the yarn is working fabulously and I haven't had any problems with it!

I did, however, how misunderstand stockinette stitches are done. Specifically, how "st st" is done in the round. At first, I thought st st was knit 1 purl 1, I was close but missing a crucial detail: in flat knitting, it's knit 1 row purl 1 row. The other thing I was missing was when working in the round, st st is accomplished simply by knitting. This only affected two of my rounds, and instead of taking out the two rounds, I left them in, planning on copying the "mistake" on the second glove. I have to say, I rather like the way that it looks leading into my st-st-only rounds. It gives me a very defined cuff, whereas the pattern calls for six rows of garter stitch (which in the round is knit 1 round, purl 1 round btw) and then start the st st which looks fine in the pictures the author included, but looks more like a detailing or embellishment than a cuff.

Cuff with slippery yarn

Cuff with new yarn!

Progress on the body in only a few hours

Now I know the pattern fits :)

Arrrg knitting!

2010-07-01T18:15:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I started a project today (as a reward for being good at the doctor's office ;) ) that's going to eventually be fingerless gloves / arm warmers. I'm about to cast on for the third time. Yeah, very frustrated. I have no idea what my problem is, I don't know if it's the yarn I bought (I tried to follow the pattern and use a "sport" weight yarn, I have a softer, lighter yarn than worsted which is what I've been working with) not holding tight, if my stitches are too loose, if it's the fact that it's my first time with multiple double-pointed needles, if I'm giving up on the rounds too early and just need to do a few more before casting judgment on the work, or if I just need food and/or a nap.

I'm going to cast on 48 AGAIN and then have a freezy-pop before I go crazy.

The gloves will be sooooo pretty if I can just get the yarn to work with me!

Well, third cast on doesn't look too bad, we'll see how it goes...

Dairy/Wheat/Eggs again!

2010-06-27T21:25:00.000-04:00

After talking with my allergist (and being crazy restricted for two weeks), I'm back to only avoiding the things I tested positive for (shellfish, treenuts, peanuts, corn, and soy), yay! Thank goodness because I was getting tired of that menu. After work, I tend to not want to make anything too complicated, which on the super restrictive diet was just hot dogs or hamburgers and chips. That gets old fast.

I am on a new medication, however, Flovent. Yes, the asthma medicine. Asthma sufferers have the same thing going on in their airways that I do in my esophagus, the eosinophils are hanging out wreaking havoc. The difference though is instead of inhaling the Flovent, I'm swallowing it. It's not in a liquid form or anything, I puff and swallow instead of puff and inhale. Two puffs, two times a day. This method can take a while before I'll see any results at all. Currently my doctor is just trying to get the inflammation under control before we start more methodically searching out the cause. Since the Big 10 (10 most common allergens) have been eliminated with no success, and since there's not much data out there for those of us with EE, so much of this process is trial by error. I've been trying to be the good patient and asking questions, but the questions I'm asking don't have any definitive answers to them. I would have to be the difficult patient that gets some disease there's no data on. Oh well, that's my luck.

*Knitting Update!*

My scarf is getting super long (I'll post a picture soon)! I've also started an additional project, something a bit bigger and more adventurous (I'm changing colors frequently!!), but it's a surprise and I don't want to ruin it. I will say that the pattern called for 5 skeins of yarn and a circular needle, all of which I got at Michael's for right around $20 because the yarn was on sale <3 I'll definitely post pictures once the present has been given, it's definitely going to be super adorable!

I've had a ball looking at patterns on ravelry.com and can't wait to practice and do some of the cooler, more complicated stuff! I've got patterns saved for fingerless gloves, a hat or two, several shawls (there's a really cool Celtic lace-knit one!), a poncho, and a bunch of other stuff.

Poolside Knitting!

2010-06-18T21:41:00.005-04:00

My last several posts have been depressing even me so I thought I'd do a post on something I CAN do: knitting! I had a very eager and patient teacher who has now unleashed a monster now that I've become a member of ravelry.com!

My first project is a Garter Stitch Scarf, something very simple that I can do without having to sit and watch my needles. I'm to the point where I can do it very easily by touch which is awesome! After a couple of weeks of knitting on my own, I invited Theo of Arcaneknits (my awesome teacher ^_^) over to my parents' house where we could both knit pooside :)

What a lovely idea that was! The weather was perfect and even though neither of us did any actual swimming, it was nice to dip our feet in the water while knitting perched on the edge. Theo, at the time, was working on a very cute hat and she has since finished it. Much to her delight, it did fit after all (she had been worried it might be too loose)! It's a round design knitted with cables, which looks way too complicated for me just yet, but I hope to get to that point soon! I've been looking at patterns and things on Ravelry and can't wait to learn how to do all these cool things! I'd really like to do a lace stole, but you've got to walk before you can crawl (10 points if you get the movie reference). Fingerless gloves are next up in my queue and they'll match my scarf--all will go quite nicely with the lovely, red pea-coat DH bought me for Christmas :)

(well, I picked it out, but it was still a present from him!)

Well then what CAN I eat?

2010-06-12T10:03:00.003-04:00

Visited the allergist again last Tuesday. Since the soy-free didn't seem to be helping my dysphagia (food getting stuck in my esophagus), she put me on an even more restricted elimination diet. It's only for two weeks, but it's going to seem so much longer! I still have to avoid soy, peanuts, and corn with the newest addition of wheat, milk, and eggs. I'm basically going to be the most difficult and weird vegan ever. No soy but meat's ok! Lol.

I've been on it for a week and have been doing ok. I've cheated, not going to lie, but I think with an even more restrictive diet it's also important to let myself have little cheats here and there (like margarine on my potatoes once) because otherwise I'll just go crazy. My mother-in-law brought over a whole bunch of groceries for me last Wednesday, she knew I was struggling with the idea of shopping with the new restrictions, so happy to have family close by! :)

I was doing some research tonight and found something interesting. I've never been crazy about raw fruit, or just fruit in general. I think it started with being a picky eater as a kid (although now I'm wondering if being a picky eater was a result of food allergies) but I never really grew out of it. I knew apples made my teeth hurt if I ate them raw--in a pie they're totally fine--and since I wasn't thrilled with any other fruit, I didn't notice any particular reactions. Since being put on this super restrictive diet, I've tried to give raw fruit another chance. I knew I liked pineapple juice and orange juice, so those seemed like good places to start. Bought a pineapple (not buying a whole one ever again, btw, definitely will be buying the pre-cut pieces) and a bag of oranges and did my best to give them a shot. Had part of an orange with lunch last week and even gave the pineapple a try over the weekend. Didn't particularly care for the way both fruits made my throat/mouth feel, not like an allergic reaction, just not right. I thought maybe I just wasn't giving them enough of a chance. I soaked the pineapple in some delicious cherry rum, maybe I could entice myself, the flavor was ok, but the same thing happened, strange feeling in my mouth/throat. For what I decided was the final time tonight, I made a smoothie with the pineapple (mold had grown on one of my oranges so that turned me off of them for a little while) and some cranberry juice I had in the fridge. Same exact thing again.

I apparently need to try things in threes before I'll get the message that my body truly doesn't want something. This isn't the first time I couldn't take the hint (thankfully no hospital visits related to allergies). I hopped online and started researching. I can have all the cooked fruits I want, fruit-flavored things, you name it, just not raw fruit. I stumbled across OAS, Oral Allergy Syndrome. Apparently, my strange reactions aren't so strange after all and there are lots of people who have the same problem with raw fruit. When I talk to my allergist next week I'm definitely going to mention the raw fruit issue (we had tested me for an apple allergy, which was negative) and bring up what I've read about OAS. Apparently, adults who suffer from hay fever allergies can have problems with raw fruit and vegetables. The proteins the fruits/veggies contain are structurally similar to the pollen or whatever your body is fighting off so they attack the protein too. Cooking and heat usually kills whatever protein the body reacts to (which is why soybean oil and peanut oil are usually safe for people with those allergies) and that's why only the raw fruits/veggies give OAS sufferers problems.

One big reason to talk to my allergist about this is (based off what I've read) so that she can test me for the pollen allergens because that's how the OAS diagnosis is made. It also could be completely unrelated to my EE. Joy. Another thing to add to my already lengthening list of medical issues...

Probably encountered the most frustrating thing...

2010-05-24T20:28:00.004-04:00

Yes, I have to avoid certain foods and miss out on foods that I like. That's part of having a food allergy that I've gotten used to. What I'm not used to, happened this morning.

I accidentally set my alarm for PM instead of AM. Oops. I woke up fifteen minutes after I usually leave the house. Crap. The worst part, the really awful part, is that even though I was able to throw clothes on and still would have been able to be at work close to on time if I had left right then was: I knew I had to make my lunch anyway. I couldn't guarantee that anything in the cafeteria at work would be soy-free (not to mention the credit card machine is down and I never carry cash). I also couldn't think "I'll just run to McDonald's at lunch" because I have STILL not sorted through their crazy long list of products and allergens. Plus I've already eaten at Subway like four times in the last seven days and that's not so good for my wallet...

This incident probably won't get me started making my lunch the night before, usually I'm doing other stuff and making my lunch helps me wake up in the morning. However, I did fix my alarm and hopefully I'll be good just doing that.

I went grocery shopping today, finally. Not a big trip or anything, mostly just little things to make some quick, easy meals on days I have to work. I would like to give a quick shout-out to Kraft: thank you for making my shopping trip so much quicker and easier! Kraft is one of the brands that puts the "contains:..." on their products. I know that if I see the Kraft logo, I won't have to spend ten minutes reading all the ingredients to see if there's soy. I've also noticed some brands putting the allergens in bold so they're easy to spot among the other ingredients and I like that too! Kudos to everyone who recognizes people with food allergies and makes their lives a little easier!

(Chik-fil-a also has an awesome chart!)

Soy-free? eh, maybe close...

2010-05-20T18:37:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I'm not totally soy-free yet. But it's only day 3 and I haven't gone grocery shopping yet so cut me some slack. I did however do some research today about what fast food establishments I can visit and the outlook is good :) So far, I've only looked at a few places websites and have found Subway's chart to be the best overall. Well, just compared to McDonalds' chart. Those are the only two I've looked at. Outback didn't even really have allergy information, or if they did it was difficult to find.

Subway
Pros: Subway's chart is nice because it's actually a chart. On the left side it lists a standard version of each sandwich on their menu and along the top it has all of the common allergens. As you look at the chart, you can easily tell if your favorite sandwiches (and there's a section for bread farther down the list) are safe for you to eat.
Cons: The allergy chart does not actually contain a list of ingredients, that's separate. It would be nice to see what allergen specifically is in the sandwich. Although, I suppose since Subway's sandwiches are pretty basic anyway (ingredients: black forest ham, lettuce, etc.) and not as lab-created as other fast food places' food, the separate lists aren't that big a deal.

McDonald's
Pros: McDonald's lists everything, and I mean everything. The McRib is even on their list. They show you all the different buns and what's in their chicken (which is kinda scary), all kinds of stuff. They have in bold print what the common allergens in the items are and they list right there the ingredients so that you can see for yourself. That's nice because a lot people allergic to soy can safely eat soy lecithin or soybean oil (Subway had a different mark on their chart if something only contained soybean oil), so if something is labeled as "contains soy" you can see why. McDonald's also distinguishes between types of soy, and will mark things as "contains soy lecithin" or "contains soybean oil" so that you know up front what kind of soy you're dealing with.
Cons: It's strictly a list. A 21 page list. Reading is required. It is definitely not at-a-glance and you have to do some searching to find your favorite things. I will definitely be going through the list and finding all my favorite things, but it hurts them because today, for dinner, I'm going to Subway, because their chart was easy to use and I knew almost instantly what I can and can't order. So it's a very good and thorough list, however for the people who need quick info on what they can or can't have, it doesn't really lend itself to being helpful in that department.

Yay two places I can eat so far!

New Year, New Layout (soon?) New Post!

2010-05-18T20:54:00.004-04:00

I'm going to try to be better about posting more, especially with the latest thing going on in my life: Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE for short, and yes, I spelled it right the first time without looking!). Basically what's going on in my esophagus is there are an excess of white blood cells do to an allergic reaction. The problem is that the inflammation is so bad that food is constantly getting stuck in my esophagus and needs help to pass through to my stomach (usually in the form of whatever liquid I'm drinking). And when I say "constantly", I mean every time I eat. Especially dry things like bread. Now what the heck the white blood cells are reacting to I have no idea. My first appointment with my new allergist was today. That went pretty well I guess. I got the arm prick test thingy done, and they confirmed my allergy to shellfish (boy did they ever, that was the strongest reaction!) and tree nuts, both of which I was already aware. I did also have a reaction to peanuts (not aware), corn (partially aware and was already avoiding), and soy.

I'm now on an elimination diet to see if, in addition to Protonix (which is helping get rid of acid reflux and repair damage to my esophagus), one of those things is what's causing the inflammation. Corn is going to be tricky, right now I'm just avoiding straight corn, however it may or may not get to the point where I have to avoid high fructose corn syrup. I'm hoping I don't have to do that. I have a followup appointment with the doc in three weeks to see if there's been any improvement based on the diets/medication. I already know the medication helps a little bit, bigger bites are still getting stuck, but smaller ones aren't as often. Protonix got rid of my acid reflux (which didn't happen too often, but often enough to notice and apparently there was some damage to my esophagus) almost immediately, like a day or two. That's been really nice.

I also have my very own set of EpiPens now. I should have had them ages ago really, especially for the shellfish allergy, but it was never really diagnosed, more like "I'll just stay away from that" since my reactions never caused me enough discomfort to visit the hospital. The doc didn't like that, lol, she was like, "Yeah you definitely need to get those as soon as possible." But she's really nice and I like her a lot. She gave me a lot of good information in the office and also sent me home with helpful stuff. She also pointed me to The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, which is a group that specializes in food allergies and they have a lot of really good info too.

Friday or Saturday-ish, I'm going shopping with my Bestie Amanda at Trader Joe's (which is the grocery store of all grocery stores!) and a couple other places because she is also doing a soy elimination diet (not for the same reasons though). As much as it stinks to be doing an elimination diet, I'm so very glad that Amanda and I will be able to do it together and go shopping together and share recipes and it's so nice not to be doing this alone. The hubby will be eating whatever he pleases, the lame-o. So yeah, having company will be very, very nice indeed :)

Misc. After Midnight

2009-05-07T00:30:00.004-04:00

I'd like to think that I can judge a movie by its trailer. I've been wrong about some, but most of the time I can tell whether or not I'll enjoy a movie based on the trailer.

Julie & Julia is no exception. I love Meryl Streep and Amy Adams both and I like the idea of this film in playing both their stories side-by-side. This film looks fantastic and I can't wait for it to come out.

I also like the idea of getting paid to blog, but I think then it would feel more like a chore or work. If I have to do something, it feels less enjoyable. I love to write, I always have, but I think getting paid for it would take away from whatever it is that I love about it. There's something cathartic about it, something that just makes me feel better afterward. Whether I'm writing a script (which I've been slacking on lately, I need to get myself back into that habit, but that takes away from the feeling...it's a perpetual circle of doom) or writing a journal entry for my eyes only, not only do I feel relieved but I also like being able to go back and look at what I had to say x number of days/years ago. It's like a time capsule, I can see who I was and where I was in my life when I look back on things I've written.

I'm still happy. Maybe even more so than the last time I wrote. I can't even begin to describe how happy I am about my life right now. Nothing's perfect, by any means, but I for the first time in a long time, I don't feel bad about myself, I don't worry about what I'll get in trouble for today, I don't wonder whether or not I'll get my paycheck this week. I'm looking at things so differently now. I'm happy to be in a place where I enjoy my co-workers, where there's an actual management structure, where I know exactly what's expected of me day-to-day and it's not unrealistic either, and I'm just all around happy. I haven't felt like this in a long, long time and it's way overdue.

It feels like I'm 19 again...

2009-04-08T00:54:00.002-04:00

I'm back at my old restaurant, but hopefully only for a short while. I'm waiting to hear back about a full-time position and it could take weeks or months to process me and get me on a schedule and payroll. Not too much has changed at the restaurant, some things are more strict while others are completely lax. I'm back to hosting, but hoping to get on the server schedule because I need to be making more money than I currently am.

I left my other job. I'm glad that I'm out of there and it's over and done with for the most part. I get to move on and accept change in my life. At first it was a terrifying leap of faith, especially in this economy, but once I'd done it (and I had the restaurant officially lined up) I was absolutely positive that leaving was exactly what I was suppose to do. My skin has started clearing up. I was actually that stressed at my previous job that once I quit, my acne started to go away. Money is still a concern, I think it will be for a while, if I can break even I'll be happy. I can hold off on shopping trips for a while as long as I can pay my bills.

Off to bed now, it's getting late. More later.

Looks like this thing is definitely going to happen!

2009-03-22T23:20:00.003-04:00

For a couple of weeks now, I've been in touch with my uncle about making a documentary. So much has been said through e-mail that I couldn't possible list it all here (I could if I copied and pasted, but I don't want to do that), but I'll post the gist of it and why it's awesome :)

-A tentative date has been set for shooting: June 2011
-It involves a two week road trip
-There are currently three team members, including me
-Without realizing it, I've become the "Producer" (their words not mine) due to my "impressively organized" and "business-like" attitude.
-It's such a refreshing change compared to what's been going on elsewhere in life.
-I'm super excited about this project, more so now that I know that I'm an equal and considered professional and will drag them "kicking and screaming to a higher level" ;)
-It will definitely be easier to get through the upcoming weeks of changes knowing that I have a project this awesome in the works.
-I can't say enough how excited I am about being a part of this project! I've been waiting and praying for something like this to come along, it's going to be a kick-ass part of my resume! XD

More later, must send e-mail to the other two team members, did I mention we're all in different states? Oh yeah. We're having a conference call soon, my idea, they loved it, I've got some more ideas I think they're going to love.

I'm not a "kid"! Huzzah!

Still no crossbow...

2009-03-11T16:29:00.002-04:00

Seven tries now. Eventually, I am going to have to give it up and get someone to make me a better crossbow. I'm only doing a little bit less damage than my hunter friend who is full beast mastery and we're pretty sure the discrepancy is because of the bow I'm using (she's got the nice crossbow). I could probably be doing the same amount of damage if not more than her if my bow weren't under par. Oh well, we'll see what happens later...

UK hates me.

2009-03-09T15:18:00.003-04:00

I don't mean the United Kingdom.

Several months ago, Dan brought home the full version of WoW, tha's right, World of Warcraft. In that time, we've both leveled at least one character to 80 (Dan's very close to getting his alt to 70, he's way ahead of me in that department) and have started doing lots of heroic dungeons with our guild (which consists of our real life friends who also play).

My main character is a hunter and there are many pieces of gear dedicated to making hunters awesome. Not that my hunter isn't already awesome, but she could definitely do better gear-wise. There is a crossbow that I have been coveting for weeks now, both Dan and our other friend who has a hunter have one and got theirs with no problem. I, on the otherhand, have been desperately trying to get it. It's dropped off the last boss of a dungeon called Utgarde Keep, and you have to run it on heroic (which just means you have to be level 80 to get in and the guys inside are all 80 or higher). My hunter friend was reading up on the crossbow and said that from what she read, it looks like it's suppose to drop 90% of the time. I say "suppose to drop" because I've now run the dugeon six times in effort to get the dang thing with no results.

A couple of weeks ago, I ran the dungeon with a group that was not our guild, the crossbow dropped before I realized how good it was for my character and how desperately I wanted it, and while I chose "need" over "greed" (which gives you priority) a warrior also chose "need" and won the roll. I didn't notice this until I was out of the dungeon because I had asked the group of it was ok with them if I chose "need" and they said yes, though the warrior said nothing, so I chose "need", someone said congrats, and we all left. It wasn't until I went to equip the crossbow that I realized what happened, the warrior had ninja'ed that sucker right out from under me and I've tried unsuccessfully since then to attempt to get it. I only run that dungeon with members from our guild now so that it doesn't happen again, especially not after six tries!

If you're not familiar with WoW, heroic dungeons can only be run once every so many hours, usually once a day. The dungeons reset themselves every 13ish hours, so unless all you do 24/7 is play WoW, realistically, you can get in there once a day, which is why it's taking me so long to get the crossbow and why I think UK hates me...

No news yet...

2009-02-27T14:08:00.002-05:00

I gave the school I'm applying to my resume and filled out their application and I still haven't heard anything back, it's been a couple of weeks. My mom says they're super busy, and I can understand that, but is it really that difficult to send me an e-mail that says, "We received your resume" at the very least?

I really, really would like having a second job for the extra income, but if they don't get back to me soon I may have to apply somewhere else, somewhere that's not my first choice...

Why God Doesn't Want Me Back in Restaurants...

2009-02-08T22:59:00.003-05:00

I love Little Caesar's. Their pizza is amazing, I love their Crazy Bread, and you can't beat their price for a hot-'n-ready large pepperoni pizza: $5.55. There's a combo where you can get two hot-'n-ready's, Crazy Bread, and a 2 liter of soda for like $15--which is amazing considering two people can get around four meals per person out of two pizzas. We don't get food from Little Caesar's too often, but clearly often enough that I know their prices ;)

The last trip I took to Little Caesar's proved an interesting one. For a while, I've been contemplating applying at another restaurant (not any restaurant I've already worked in though) just part-time as a second source of income. I think I got sent an angel in the form of an irritable customer at Little Caesar's to remind me how much I despise working in restaurants.

The curb in front of Little Caesar's is painted solid yellow: fire lane. As is the curb of the median where the parking spaces begin. The very space is available, and not a handicap space (those are in front of the grocery store a little farther down), so I take it. I notice that there is a car parked in front of each of the two fire lanes in front of the pizzeria and think to myself that someone who can't park four feet to the right to park legally is either a) in too much of a hurry to both or b) feels very self-entitled (something I encountered quite a bit in my restaurant days. Having the thought for no more than two seconds on my way in, I brush it off and am prepared to order my pizza. One person is coming out, the person parked at the curb closest to the building, and they get in their car and go. The second person, the one who could have had the space I was in but chose to park in the fire lane anyway, was still there.

She had ordered a large, half pepperoni, half cheese pizza over the phone. This is not considered a hot-'n-ready, as I soon found out, this was a pizza made just for her. When the girl behind the counter rang up her single pizza, it rang up $7.65, which is the price for a normal, large pizza. The woman, however, wants to know why it costs so much. The girl behind the counter isn't sure what she means, so the woman explains. Supposedly, in the past, she had gotten this exact pizza for the hot-'n-ready price. Three employees had to try and explain to the woman (after asking a couple of times who it was that had given her that price, only to have the woman dodge that question--a red flag meaning she was probably making it up or she had bullied another employee into doing it) that it was policy not to sell non-hot-'n-ready pizzas for the hot-'n-ready price. Eventually, realizing she wasn't going to win, the woman breaks down and buys a single pepperoni hot-'n-ready for a grand total of $5.88. She saved less than two whole dollars for her fit.

Among the things she angrily said to the employees with backbone was "So you're just going to let that pizza go to waste?" and I had half a mind to let her know that the pizza would not go to waste, that if they couldn't sell it, a happy employee was going to get a free pizza to take home, but I just wanted to get my pizzas and go eat dinner so I did not engage the woman in verbal fisticuffs because obviously she was geared up and ready to go. I was glad that the employees didn't give her what she wanted, some people need to learn that there are rules that everyone needs to follow. You're not above the rules at a corner pizza joint.

As I was walking to my car after getting my order, I realized that the woman who pitched a fit was in the car that was parked in the other fire line, the one four feet from a legal space, and I laughed silently to myself realizing that my initial assessment of the illegal parking jobs had been correct. There are certain kinds of personalities that just don't change and they're everywhere you go.

Potential Substitute Teacher? Me?

2009-02-06T11:35:00.002-05:00

I'll be applying for another part-time job as a substitute teacher at the school where my mom works in Columbia. I've been a "guest speaker" in her class once before and I used to teach karate for a number of years, so it's not something that I'm completely unfamiliar with. The nice thing about being a substitute is that I'll still be able to somewhat define my hours myself. I can say "yes I can do that" or "I'm sorry, I have a shoot with my other job." My mom says that they desperately need subs and the fact that I'm already STAND trained and already have some experience teaching will be a big help. I'm really hoping this works out because it will mean some extra money in my pocket. I'll actually be able to save money and not need to touch it, unlike right now where I put money away and turn around and access it the next week to help with bills. I would love to keep my promise to myself and stay out of restaurants. I want my last restaurant to stay my last restaurant. I'll have to post again about why I'm pretty sure God doesn't want me working in restaurants either ;)

This is maddness! I was a film major!

2008-07-07T23:13:00.002-04:00

How can I have so many DVDs that even with half my collection could be strewn about the house and the other half in my room still looks like a lot, yet I have nothing that I want to watch? How can I, a film graduate, have absolutely nothing to suit my every mood? I can recommend movies to other people and have a quote ready for nearly every situation, but when it comes to me, I'm drawing a blank!

The only solution I can think of is to buy more movies, but that's how I got into this predicament in the first place! I have old favorites to fall back on, sure, but this decision is already a half an hour in the making (only because I was distracted by blogging and the iTunes Music Store) and I can't take half and hour to decide on an old favorite, that would be admitting defeat!

My Videographer Bailed...

2008-06-19T13:08:00.002-04:00

My videographer, who's been planning on taping the wedding for months now, just bailed because her boyfriend's childhood friend is getting married that day too. With just under two months until the wedding, and with 08/08/08 being a fairly popular wedding date, there's no way that I can get a professional at the last minute like this. I'm forced to ask my video/film major friends who are already coming to do it for me. She's not even finding a replacement for herself, I have to. I also have to find equipment for them. I'm a little pissed and pretty hurt.

Randomness...

2008-06-11T14:40:00.002-04:00

I'm going to Maine this weekend. I have to be in the office at half past the crack of dawn (6:30am). I'm also driving my car and Boss is paying for gas. This will be one interesting 10-hour drive...

I know what the IRS Gas Mileage Allowance is and I'm not telling you :-P

Even though schools teach kids to write their name and addresses at a young age, doesn't mean that they think about putting their full address on forms when they're signing up for things...

Air Conditioning is pretty much the best thing ever, next to Chik-fil-a chicken sandwiches.

I need to capture footage so I can earn a few extra bucks.

I need more money period. :(

Trader Joe Insulated Bags = Good Value

2008-06-09T20:59:00.003-04:00

Today I found out that I got more than my money's worth for my $2 Trader Joe insulated bag.

I've been using it to take my lunch to work in and for the most part, have only been taking water in my bottle from Old Navy (it's the plastic you couldn't shatter if you wanted to with the screw-on top) in the bag. Today, I decided to put soda in another version of the water bottle, one with a top that you can pop open in addition to screwing on. When I got to work, I had an interesting surprise: a large soda puddle in the bottom of my lunch bag. :-O
Lunch was fine, everything in there was in tupperware or ziploc sealed bags. I'm still not sure how the soda managed to escape but the bag was the real surprise. In addition to keeping cold food cold and hot food hot (not at the same time of course, that would be simply amazing!), this bag is also totally and completely liquid proof. There was absolutely no evidence of leakage on the outside of the bag and most importantly: not in my new car!!!

I was able to just dump the soda out, pour more water in, swish it around to get all the soda drops out, and then pour the water out again. I was also able to turn it completely inside out and stick outside in the 100+ degree heat of June in Maryland to dry. It may have dried in as quickly as ten minutes, but I actually went out to get it a half an hour later :-P

New Car, Wedding Shoes, Could This Week Get Better?

2008-06-02T16:08:00.009-04:00

It's only Monday and I'm already having a fabulous week! I got my new car over the weekend and love it! It's a 2008 Toyota Matrix, 1,500 miles for $13K. I don't think I'd have gotten a better deal if I had sold my soul to the devil, except maybe he'd have thrown in a cosmic doughnut with it... ;)

Megan's out here spending the summer at my house (well part of the summer, that's another entry for another day). It's like being back in middle school! The first night she spent the night on my bedroom floor and we talked until 2am even though we had to get up and go to work in the morning. Then we moved the futon into my room and we've been sharing that since. The other night we were up until 4am playing Brain Age 2 on my DS (she loved the piano play training feature) and before that we were coloring the kids menus we'd gotten at Outback earlier that night.

Then, today after work, my wedding shoes arrived! Dan and I each designed our own Chuck Taylor high-tops on their website (his are different than mine but they still go with the color scheme of the wedding) and we'll be wearing them for the ceremony. Until then, mine will sit in their beautiful box and not get dirty. I knew they were coming today, so I was in a rush to get home, though I did take the long way so I could stay in my new car a little bit longer ;)

The weather outside is gorgeous and the pool is so close to being a swimable temperature for me. I had leftover steak for lunch (yummy!) and checked all my favorite websites (the new and improved Bmasher/Nukoda forums, and of course uploaded pictures to Facebook). Now, the pool is beckoning and asking me to clean it. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it while it's still warm out and will want to get in when I'm done, my sister just got home and I'm suppose to teach her how to drive a stick-shift (well, "teach" is not the right word, she knows how so pretty much she's just "practicing" with someone else in the car). The pool may have to wait until tomorrow or Wednesday, which is fine because it's suppose to get even warmer later this week.

More pics, lol :)

Today was a good day :)

2008-05-27T16:47:00.008-04:00

My boss called me yesterday to make sure that I could shoot with him at "the stadium" today. I could, since I'm not in school and have nothing better to do with my time, it also beats sitting around in the office all day. I assumed it was Camden Yards since it's baseball season not football season and MASN hires my boss as a freelance videographer for occasional baseball events. I figured we'd be in a room somewhere, nowhere near the field, or maybe even up in the stands. We were suppose to just be getting sound-bites and a voiceover, nothing big.

This is where we ended up...

We were in the bullpen. To shoot. We walked down through right field to get there. I was on the field. We got set up and hung out in the bullpen while we waited for four players from the '83 Oriole's to show up. I, of course, got pictures :)

White balancing for daylight...

Close-up of the number above my head in the last picture...

The lineup!!!

Hanging out in the bullpen :)

Walking through right field.

Wedding Plans

2008-05-18T00:58:00.002-04:00

The wedding plans are coming along beautifully. The old dress was too small so I needed to get another one. It wasn't a big deal because I only paid $70 for the old dress on ebay and I'll be putting it back on ebay anyway. The new dress cost $56 on ebay and is even more gorgeous than the old dress! It's from Casablanca Bridal, which is a snooty company that doesn't even list dress prices on their website. I did a little more sleuthing and found that their dresses don't really sell below $500 new. Usually they're sold between $500 and $1,000. So yeah, I got an awesome deal and a beautiful dress. We got it a size too big on purpose so that it could be altered to fit like a glove.

DF and I ordered our shoes yesterday, I'll post pictures when they arrive. We each designed our own pair of high-top Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars (they match our color scheme, but they also have our personalities). My mom was totally cool with me wearing sneakers. My grandmother on the otherhand...we'll just say that when she refers to my shoes, she calls them "flats" not "sneakers" ;)

We're also going to start printing and mailing invitations veeeery soon. I can't wait! I've actually been looking forward to this part, mostly because it helps make the whole thing seem real. We've had the wedding postponed several times already and now everything is finally happening, sometimes I realize that we're actually making plans that are going to stick, they aren't up in the air. I'm sooooooooo excited, I can't even put it into words. XD

I wish I could say that they bridal party was coming along as well as everything else. There's been some drama going on and that's all I can really say right now. I'm almost torn between being a good friend and being a bride's who's finally going to have her wedding. I'm pretty sure I know what needs to be done and I'm going to do it (there WILL NOT be any drama at the wedding or reception. Period.), it's just a matter of finding the right time and the right words before it's too late.

Aaaaaanyway, we have the church, the hall (catering and bar included), the photographer, the videographer, the tuxes, the dress, the rings, and now the shoes. We are almost completely set. Once we've sent out invitations, we'll have guests! :)

Above and Beyond

2008-04-21T14:10:00.002-04:00

For the last two weeks or so, we've been putting together a marketing package at work for the show to send/give to potential sponsors. It's been coming together kind of slowly, since we've never put one of these together before. I designed a page layout for the whole package based off the website so it all looks consistent, they loved it and we're using it! I also started adding graphics and pictures, with some input from Brainiac and Mystique about which page they should go on, etc. We loved what we had so far, but several pages still needed work.

Then, last week, our editor ran into a representative of a rather large company (national company is all I'm going to say) who says that his company has money set aside specifically for the sponsorship of educational children's programming. *GASP* Editor told him about our show and the guy loved the idea and wants to pitch it to his boss. *DOUBLE GASP* That was Friday. Over Saturday and Sunday, Mystique and I were on the phone and e-mailing each other constantly, scrambling to finish our marketing package in time to send it to this guy.

Now, Monday morning, after we sent the package to the guy and are waiting for him to call back (he's very busy, national company and all), we're 98% done with the marketing package. There are only a few tweaks left to do, change some wording here, add a small graphic there, and then we can start sending it out to everyone and their mother (which I've already been doing, but to people I know so I can show off my work XD) and ask for money.

They love the work that I've done and are soooo appreciative of the time that I've put into it as well. Boss even called from his shoot in Buffalo to say, "So I hear you did some awesome work last night!" which is his way of saying "great job" lol. So pretty much I have a couple of days off coming to me plus a bonus was mentioned so we'll see...I love that they're happy with all the work I've done and acknowledge that I did a great job for them and put in a lot of time. My other jobs were not this good to me!

Graduated!

2007-12-17T23:57:00.000-05:00

The day finally came, I'm now a college graduate! :) The ceremony was relatively quick, but still a tad longer than it needed to be. I still haven't figured out why they needed so many people to talk about stuff that no one is going to remember in a few days and why they couldn't just have us walk up on stage, get our diploma holder (real diploma to come later), and then go. But whatever. None of the graduates really wanted to be there, we all did it for our families but I guess that's how they all go. I do like the idea that I never have to go to class or write a paper ever again, that's pretty cool. I'm going to miss all my friends though and hanging out with them as often as I did. But I don't have to study or take tests anymore, how cool is that?!

Life Since September

2007-11-24T23:53:00.000-05:00

It's the holiday season and about time. I'm now in a sweet-spot, so to speak, of the semester. I'm still in college but almost graduated, working in my field, but not with too many responsibilities, and I'm almost done with teaching karate. I'm going to miss college, a lot really. Not so much the classes or the teachers (there are only a few teachers that I actually respect and will really miss), definitely not the homework or tests, but I'm going to miss spending as much time with my friends as I've become accustomed to.

I know what working 40+ hours a week does to your social life, thanks to camp, and I know how hard it is for me to get together with some of my friends as it is, so I know my social calendar will pretty much die and I'll be living for the weekends. Also, my friends will be moving back to their houses (some across the U.S. :( ) and won't be in that central location anymore, making it that much more difficult to see each other.

I realize that this is all part of getting older and graduating and all that, but it still makes me sad. I spent two and a half years of my life with these people, for hours and hours at a time in some cases, we've endured the same horrible professors and difficult tests, been on those long shoots, auditioned for and gone to plays/movies/dinner together, helped each other with homework, partied together or in some cases just hung out and enjoyed each other's company. The mot noteworthy examples of enjoying the company of friends would be when I spent something like 2-3 hours watching wrestling with several of my guy friends. That was an interesting night!

But, I have a great internship who has said they're going to hire me for sure when I graduate and to name my price! So, I have a job lined up and Dan's got his foot in the door of a couple of different places. Wedding plans may finally be in within reach! I'm keeping my fingers crossed and sending prayers up for that! Sometimes my days are up, sometimes their down, which is how life is suppose to be: a wild ride. ;)

Media Badge = All Access

2007-10-02T08:11:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday was my first day at my brand new internship. One of my friends at school got an internship with this company and said that they still desperately needed good interns so I had her forward my resume along. The same day that I sent them a follow up e-mail was the day that they called me and asked me to work the following day (Saturday)! I agreed got the info I needed and couldn't wait for the next day to begin.

We would be taping a horse race, which was cool because I'd never been to one before. Apparently, that particular track has a big event every year to raise money and it's pretty swanky. Not everybody was dressed up but a lot of people were and there were tents sponsored by banks and hospitals with catered food inside! But I digress...

I get to the track, park, and set out to find the people I need to meet up with. Guess where they were? Down ON the track conducting interviews with the winning jockeys, trainers, and owners of the horses. AND when they were doing that, they were on this little hut that was down on the level with the track but just off it so they were out of the way while still having easy access to the people they needed to interview. They set me right off to work when I got there, I held a reflector during the interviews and babysat a tape deck during the races. It was pretty cool.

Everybody was really nice and friendly, professional at the same time and knew what they were doing (which is a change for me ;) ), but it was still a fairly laid back atmosphere to work in. I'm really excited about this internship and can't wait to do more. They're going to have me in the research department two days a week and out doing production one day a week, unless there's no research that needs to be done, in which case: more production. That's tentative for right now, I'm doing in later with my friend from school to talk to the appropriate people about my schedule and when they need me to come in.

Karate Starts Today

2007-09-18T09:18:00.000-04:00

I'm excited! I haven't worked since the end of August, I've been living off my last paycheck from camp and the little bit of money I've had in savings. I'm not ready to have a job again, but I'm ready to have money. It's actually the sweetest deal I've ever had for a job: Tuesdays/Thursdays 3-5pm and Saturdays 10-12 and get this, I'm getting paid up front. Here's how that works:

The karate school that I'm working with (not my original school where I trained) does after school programs and the students pay up front for the whole semester's tuition, like it's a regular class they're attending. The other instructor I'll be working with will be there to help teach for the second half of the semester, so I get half of the tuition that's brought in for the Tuesday/Thursday classes. The Saturday classes are all me, so I'll be getting all the tuition. I have the opportunity to earn a good bit of money. I won't say how much but it's a lot. :)

It's a great opportunity for me to start budgeting my money and watching it way more closely. I'm definitely going to be able to finish paying off my computer and I'd like to start putting some money aside for when I graduate and I need to start paying off my loans. I don't want to count my chickens, but I'm hoping to have enough kids sign up that I'll be able to buy my own car (a nice used one, nothing fancy) so when I move out of my parents' house, that's one less thing I'll have to buy.

The downside to this job is that I'll have less free time on the days I have class, because it's at the same school that camp was, which is a good distance from my house (45 minutes on a good day), so travel time is included.

As far as I can tell though, it's the only downside. Sure, there may be one or two of the kids from camp that I was not fond of, but I only have to see them for an hour at a time (maybe two, and I stress maybe) as opposed to the 6 straight hours I had them at camp. I already know that I can work with the instructor and my paychecks aren't going to come up as $0.00 (which happened at one of my restaurant jobs and it was a mistake that took them forever to fix). I know the admins already since it's at the same place as camp and a couple of my friends from camp are also working at the school for other things. So I'm really stoked about this job.

Back to School Time...

2007-08-26T23:28:00.000-04:00

It's back to school season. I only have one class and it's on Thursdays, so I am going to have a goooood semester. I'll be up on campus as much as I can just to hang out and see everybody, especially since it's my last semester. I've already got couches in dorms lined up to bum off my friends (who are awesome btw!) and my goal is to have other residents see me so much they'll think I'm a resident too. Despite the fact that my class is larger than it should be (and may or may not contain people I'd rather have in other classes where we will not be given group assignments and my grade will not depend on their abilities), my schedule got screwed up, and I'm graduating later than I should be, I'm looking forward to spending these last few months with my friends before we all graduate in December (another perk of graduating late) and get sent off into the real world.

What Did I Do This Summer?

2007-08-20T11:07:00.000-04:00

I was arrested for "illegal minoring"...

Learned two different dances to "Cotton Eye Joe"...

Searched for gold during the Klondike Gold Rush...

Busted some of my kids out of jail...several times...

Fixed a knee, without the use of a band-aid...(See How To Fix A Knee)

Got paid when I didn't go to work...twice!

Was transported to a secret wizarding world for two straight days...

Solved a murder at a beach resort with the aid of a Belgian detective...

Raided, pillaged, and plundered my weasley, black guts out in many towns in the Caribbean to become the number one most feared pirate...

Got all of my defendants declared "Not Guilty"...

Defeated Bowser and his minions....

Got to swim during adult swim for the first time ever...

Defeated the Elite Four and the Champion for the fourth time (Blue, Gold, Emerald, and now Pearl)...

Met up with several friends from school...

...and so much more. Despite working 45 hours a week for 7 straight weeks (I was out for a week when I hurt my foot), this has been a great summer. I wouldn't trade any of it.

How To Fix A Knee (for kids age 7 and under)

2007-08-17T10:35:00.001-04:00

It was a rainy day and we were playing capture the flag inside (except it was called "Treasure Chest" and there were multiple flags) when one of my kids comes over to the bleachers where I'm sitting and sits down. I ask him what's up and he says that he hurt his knee (I forget how he hurt it, I think it involved someone else and the hard gym floor). So I ask if I can fix it, he says yes and moves up a row to sit next to me.

First, I had him close his eyes and keep them closed until I said to open them. Then, I asked him what color the pain was.
"Blueish, blackish, and a little yellowish" was his reply.
"Okay," I said, "Now, don't open your eyes! I'm going to wave my hands over your knee, I'm not going to touch it, then, after I count to three you're going to open your eyes, but you have to focus on that color and think about it hard while I'm doing that, okay?"
"Okay."

He squeezes his eye lids together while he's focusing on the color and I move my hands around just in case he's peeking.

"3...2...1..."
I snap my fingers and he opens his eyes. His jaw drops when he looks at his knee and doesn't see the colors he's been focusing on so hard.

"All better?" I ask.
"Yeah!" He exclaims happily.
"Now get back out there and play!"

He jumps off the bleachers and runs back to his side of the gym. When he gets there, he turns back around and gives me a big smile and wave before quickly dashing off to the opponent's side to retrieve some treasure.

I got that trick from "Full House" a show that is definitely too old for him. It comes on Nick at Night (I think) and WGN, two things he's not very likely to watch, especially if he has the Disney Channel or Cartoon Network. Even if he had seen it, it wasn't likely he had seen the episode I got it from, or if he had, he may have believed that it would work because it had worked on Michelle.

I'd been dying to try that all summer to see if it would actually work, and it did! I don't think though that any kids older than 7 or 8 would believe in it enough for it to work on them though.

Common Phrases

2007-08-04T12:04:00.000-04:00

Here's a list of things I've said to my kids at some point this summer:

Get your hat out of the water fountain.

Don't put your pizza in your soda.

No we can't play extreme musical hula-hoops.

If you can't keep your hands to yourself, you two are going to hold hands for the rest of the day!

Put the stick down.

No rocks down the slide.

Don't "pants" him while he's on the monkey bars!

Do you need an ambulance? No? Then you're fine.

Did you really think you could fool me?

I'll add more as they come to me...

Holy Crip, It's A Crapple!

2007-07-19T17:08:00.000-04:00

I've been laid up at home for the past two days because on Tuesday morning (it's Thursday today), I hurt myself at camp.

Karate class had just started and we were doing warm up kicks. A side kick is something I've done a million times. I even did a flying side kick on Friday to break a board with no trouble at all (I even flew over two counselors when I did it too). But something happened when I did it on Tuesday and I landed on the top of my foot instead of the bottom like I was suppose to. My foot rolled and I managed to catch myself before I had fallen completely on it but the damage had been done.

After a few minutes of sitting out, I went to the nurse to get some ice, wrote the incident in her book and headed back to class. I kept assisting with class, coaching some lower belts from my spot on the floor. While my two students were getting water, I checked on my foot, a lump had started to form. Great. This meant that there was no way I was finishing this day of camp and possibly a trip to the ER. The instructor came over to see how I was doing and, when he saw my foot, went to the office to let them know what had happened and to find some counselors to cover me and take care of my group since I would be leaving camp early. He came back with an admin and another counselor. The admin told me that I could go home (and I told her it wasn't quite that easy because I drive a stick shift and it was my left foot that was growing a second ankle) and I gave the other counselor an extra roster and schedule. It was around 11 o'clock when I finally hobbled my way over to the office to wait for my mom to come and pick me up.

During the long wait for my mom (we live 30 miles from camp, it takes 40 minutes with good traffic to get to the campus), I was having a good ol' time hanging out in the office. I love all of the admins (who are technically all of our bosses), they're nice, friendly, and funny, qualities I'm not used to having in a higher-up, lol. There were only three admins that day, they were short staffed, so specialists (the people who run the different activities) would come up and help out whenever there was a free period for them. People are constantly dropping kids off late or picking them up early for things like doctor's appointments, swim practices, and things of that nature, and they need help finding their child or the child needs help finding his or her group. That's what the specialists were hanging out in the office for, that and it's air conditioned. Any time someone came into the office that I knew, they would look at me funny and ask what I was doing there. The observant ones who saw that I had my foot elevated on a chair asked what happened to me. Either way, rather than giving them an explanation, I would happily if they wanted to see!

Most people said "no" but would take a few steps towards me to look anyway, especially since I didn't wait for their answer and lifted the ice away to reveal what the admins dubbed as my "second ankle." One guy was actually honest when I asked him if he wanted to see; "Yeah, I kinda do" he said and moved over to look. I kept the admins laughing at how I was showing my injury to everybody and I probably surprised them by how much I was talking and laughing about it.

My mom finally arrived and I limped down to the car and we headed home. The swelling had stopped increasing, but the lump on my foot was the size of a golf ball, maybe bigger, so we opted for the emergency room to get x-rays and make sure nothing was broken. We were in and out in about two hours, which is pretty good for the ER, especially ours. I called Dan while we were on our way over, since he works there I was hoping to get the process sped up, but they weren't all that busy so we really didn't need the hook up. While I was waiting in the hallway (to be seen, to go to x-ray, to get checked out, etc., there's a lot more waiting than actual treatment...), I was chatting it up with Dan and other people who were waiting for their kids or other patients. If it wasn't for the wheelchair I was sitting in, people probably wouldn't have known that I was there to be seen!

The x-ray didn't show any broken bones, thank goodness, but the doctor said that I had a contusion which is a really, really bad bruise (how he put it). I got my foot wrapped up, was given a big ugly shoe and a set of crutches, was told to keep my foot elevated and iced as much as possible for the first several days, and that I couldn't go back to work until Monday. Oh darn, I had a doctors orders to stay at home and not work. I left the fact that we have a pool in the backyard out when I called work back to let them know that I wouldn't be in until Monday, they might think it's a little too convenient... ;)

I was told that my foot would feel a lot worse before it got better, especially the day after, but it didn't. It only hurt when I moved it a certain way, or poked it. Both of which I could easily avoid doing, so I was pretty much happy as a claim to stay a home and prop my feet up by the pool with my mom and sister ready and willing to grab me anything I wanted. One of my friends, when I told her about my injury, seemed to be more upset about it than I was. When I explained that it was a week off of work spent by the pool, she calmed down a bit. I also had friends come over and visit me and take me out for dinner so I could get out of the house! I think I went to the mall almost every single day that I was off of work after I hurt my foot (I think I only didn't go once). The first time was the day I hurt my foot because my sister wanted to drive (just got her learner's and I am 21, a legal adult with a driver's license) and I wanted to get some new DVDs since I was going to be at home for a while.

When I iced my foot down, I had a most *wonderful* little thing called "The Ice Man". Dan got it after his knee surgery and let me use it for my foot (since he hasn't had a need for it for a while). It's a cooler with a hose attached, basically, it runs nice, cold, ice water through the hose up to a pad that you wrap around whatever's sore. The water circulates so it takes a long time for the ice to melt and the water to warm up. There's even a temperature gauge where you can adjust somewhat how cold the water gets. It became my new best friend for the few days I was on my bed most of the time, that and my computer.

The bump went away overnight, but the rest of my foot swelled up like a balloon and turned purple. Thus the bruise part of the contusion I guess. It was pretty cool and I took the pictures that I posted above :)

"Bell" Hornets

2007-07-09T00:10:00.001-04:00

Officially known as European Giant Hornets. Not to be confused with actual hornets, these "giants" are actually related to wasps and not hornets. They make their homes in hollow trees, wood posts, and the like. Several of the websites I have looked at have described this insect as normally docile and more passive than aggressive, unless they're defending their nest. Females can measure up to 35mm long and have a tendency to sound like helicopters when they are in flight.

Why an entry on the European Giant Hornet? One of my kids was stung by one during a free period. We usually spend our free periods on the playground where the kids can play several games of chicken and get some energy out. The playground is made out of wood, and it's hollow, which makes it the perfect place for nests.

I hadn't seen any hornets flying around before, but from what I've read, it seems as though they get more active as summer progresses, which explains it. I spoke with one of the camp admins at the end of the day about spray ing the playground so no one else would get stung. She said that they had spoken to maintenance about it but for some reason they hadn't gotten around to yet. I'm hoping the news that a kid got stung will get maintenance moving.

I felt so bad for the kid that got stung, he ran to the nurse's office and I had to run just to keep up with him. The nurse put some green stuff on the sting (the stinger had fallen out, probably on the run over, or he hadn't let the hornet stay on him long enough) that was suppose to help, put a band-aid on, and gave him a ziplock bag full of ice. It took a little while for him to stop crying, so one or two of the other kids, myself, and my other counselor, started telling bee sting stories, stories about getting stitches, and soon he was chiming in with more stories of his own. My other counselor even said that he can now have the award for most band-aids in our group and he liked that very much. He must have told that to his parents because the next day, he (the camper, not the counselor) told me that his mom got the award for most band-aids when she was in camp too. He's a tough little guy and got to pick what color popsicle he got later because he was so good about being stung.

For more information about the European Giant Hornet, visit these websites:
http://www.vespa-crabro.de/hornets.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_hornet

Olympic Day

2007-06-30T12:19:00.000-04:00

There are several special days over the course of the summer at camp. The first of which we had yesterday, Olympic Day. This consisted of a long show put on by several counselors at the beginning of the day. They had divided themselves into two teams: The Spartans (above) and The Athenians (below) and were to compete against each other in a variety of very messy activities for the
children's amusement.

The activities got messier as time went on. First it was be the first to find a piece of bubblegum in a plate full of flour and blow a bubble. Then it was a trivia game where the first person to get the right answer could splat their opponent's face with a shaving cream pie. After that, each team took turns breaking an egg over one of their team member's faces as that team member balanced a cup on their face.

After that, it was gross balloon popping.

Yeah.

The object was to put a balloon filled with either vinegar, mustard, BBQ sauce, or other gross liquids (or semi-liquids) between you and your partner's chest, run down the stairs of the amphitheater without dropping it, then, when you get to the bottom, try to pop it by crushing it between you.

And all this was just the show before the actual day.

They had mini-periods all day for the kids to compete at different events themselves and win ribbons for first, second, and third place. Sometimes, they worked as teams and the whole team received ribbons, other times it was on an individual basis and only three kids got ribbons. It was a lot of fun and I took lots of pictures to make CDs for my kids, so even if they didn't get that many ribbons, they would have plenty of pictures to remember Olympic Day. :)

Super Counselor!

2007-06-25T19:48:00.000-04:00

Monday, the first day of the week, the day where we get new campers, new weekly schedules, it's a fresh start. Usually.

One of our kids was going on the overnight trip and the "procedure" for getting them to the right place to leave on time is to take them to the nurse so she can check them out then they get on the bus from there. My co-counselor and I are pretty good at taking turns with who takes the whole group and who takes the one kid where they need to be. It was my turn, so I take one of our boys over to the nurse's room. She wasn't there. Okaaaaay. We were a few minutes early and we had left before they made the announcement to get the overnight kids to the nurse. So we waited a few minutes.

Soon another group showed up looking for the nurse so I knew we were in the right place. We were suppose to have the kids at the nurse by 9:15, and when it rolled around, the nurse was still nowhere to be found. The group that came in after us eventually left, while several other counselors just dropped off their kids and left without even checking to see if the nurse was there. I somehow ended up with fifteen or twenty kids and only one other counselor in sight staying until the nurse got there. Thank goodness for him because otherwise I would have been illegally outnumbered (not literally "illegally" but you know what I mean). Neither he nor I would be going on the overnight, there were counselors assigned to go but they were nowhere to be found either!

One of the lifeguards happened to wander by and stop in, thankfully. He went up to the office to find out about the nurse. When he came back, he informed us that the nurse was going to be late but she would be in around 9:30. I looked at the clock, it was already a few minutes past 9:30. Great. At quarter to ten, one of the administrator's came into the room for something else, but then found out about the nurse still be absent and said that we should all go down to the pavilion and wait for the nurse there, rather than have everyone in the tiny space. So the ONE other counselor (and junior counselor at that, he wasn't even 18 yet) and I took all the kids outside and down to the pavilion. Which was where we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited.

Finally, after ten, ANOTHER administrator happened to walk by and I explained what was going on and how the nurse had STILL not shown up, and she immediately went up to the office to see what was going on. When she came back, she said that the nurse still hadn't arrived yet, but the bus for the overnight doesn't leave until the children had been checked in, so there wasn't a whole lot we could do in the meantime besides keeping the kids out of trouble. I thanked her and let her know that there were just two counselors watching all of the kids (and one of us was a junior counselor) because everyone else just dumped their kids and ran. And those were the words that I used when I explained what happened later, "dumped their kids and ran."

At about 10:30 or so (more than an hour after we were suppose to have dropped off the kids and moved on to the first period with the rest of our group), one of the overnight specialists (someone who just runs the overnights), came over and started to take attendance to see who was with us at the pavilion and who was waiting at the bus circle. Next, we got the kids lined up outside the nurse's room (she had still not arrived) and had them go in two by two and get them checked in to make sure none of them were sick or anything. After that, we went over to the bus circle to wait for the bus's to show up. Even though everyone had been unofficially checked in, it was only a temporary solution. Any children who were taking medication with them on the overnight still had to be checked in by the nurse no matter how late she was. A legal issue in which we had no choice.

11 rolled around and the nurse had STILL not arrived, but reinforcements had arrived! The counselors who were going on the overnight had been summoned and were at the bus circle with us. The kids at this point were getting tired of waiting and kept asking when the nurse was going to come and when they could leave. I kept saying "she'll get here when she gets here, the bus isn't going to leave without you."

Finally, around 11:30 the nurse shows up, the few kids who have meds go and see her while counselors get the bus loaded with gear and kids, and the original junior counselor and I can go back to our groups, just in time for lunch. I quickly explained what happened to my other counselor and gave more full a story to our specialist who said that I did exactly the right thing and to make sure that the administration knew that the other counselors were just dropping off their kids so that they could come up to my "level." A simple thanks and/or acknowledgment is really all I need.

My last several jobs did hardly anything when a good or exception job was done, unless you whined and complained and made yourself noticed the entire time you were doing it. Their opinion was that of "you're doing what I hired you to do", it was expected, not appreciated. I got several "thank yous" and made sure to thank the junior counselor who stayed several times myself.

The rest of the day went fairly smoothly, aside from a loose tooth, many tears, and a trip to the nurse and the office.

One of the boys has a loose tooth and accidentally got bumped in the mouth, which made it hurt and bleed. It had to be one of the boys who has a flair for the dramatic too.

"I feel like I'm going to die!" He said through tears.
"You're not going to die, I promise." I replied, trying not to laugh.
"But it feels like I am!"

I took him to the nurse, got some ice, tissues, and a case in the event that the tooth fell out so we had something to put it in. He was fine when it was just the two of us and I got him talking, keeping his mind off it. But when people asked what happened or if he had time to think about it, he would start crying again. Later, after the last period, my co-counselor took him to the office to see if he could be picked up early (he is one of the children who is picked up late, he goes to supervision after camp is over). He wasn't able to get picked up early, so he did his best to tough it out. The last I saw of him, he was swimming around in the pool as if nothing was wrong.

So yeah, not too bad a day at camp. I'm glad it all happened after I've been doing this for a week, so I have an idea of what I'm doing at least. We'll see what the week will bring...

First Week

2007-06-23T10:48:00.000-04:00

I have been so busy in this first week of camp that I've hardly had time to check my myspace/facebook accounts, much less be able to put a decent blog entry together. So many things have happened in camp this week, and since I've barely had time to sleep much less blog, I can hardly do them justice. Since I have finally gotten the hang of a 45 hour work week, I am hopeful that I will be able to post more frequently in the coming months. So this post will just be a quick run through of the things that stand out in my memory of what happened this week.

Monday:

The first day of camp was crazy and fun. My co-counselor had been a counselor before so he knew what he was doing and where we were going for the different activities, thank goodness. Our group is a specialty group, they do more of one activity than any of the others. Because it's a specialty group, the ages range and it's co-ed (somewhat). The youngest is 6 and a half and the oldest is 11. The group has a grand total of 17, and only two of them are girls. Little boys are easy for me and difficult at the same time. Easy in the sense that I can raise my voice and not hurt feelings (and sometimes I do need to yell just to be heard), but difficult in the fact that I still have no idea why rocks and sticks are so interesting and why they must constantly pick them up and throw them at each other. That's where yelling comes in handy though.

The main difficulty we had with the big difference in gender numbers was changing into bathing suits to go to the pool. The two girls changed fairly quickly as you can probably imagine. The boys not so much. I thought it would be easier if we let them change in the bathrooms of the building our activity before swim was in. Bad idea. Each bathroom only had two stalls and that's what the boys were using. I'm not sure how long it took, or how many times my co-counselor would open the door and tell them to hurry up, but when I had finally had enough, I opened the door a crack and yelled,

"If you boys don't hurry up, I'm sending the girls in to get you!"

To which the girls' reaction was to run up to me, each raising their hands, and crying, "Oh let me! Let me!" Needless to say that was not the reaction I was expecting, though it did amuse me a great deal. I thought boys and girls have cooties at this age, maybe that was just my generation...

We ended up getting to the pool just before 2:30pm, I thought we were actually early because our other periods had been on the hour and half hour marks. The life guard I spoke to about which group we were and who needed to be swim tested didn't say anything about whether or not we were there on time and even thought we were early too when I said as much. She swim tested the kids kids and then the whistle was blown for adult swim shortly after they finished (which was about ten minutes or so).

I sit down next to my co-counselor after helping some of our kids apply sun screen and he asks if we just want to stay there for the next period. I give him a blank look and that's when he tells me that we were veeeeeery late. We were suppose to be there at 2, not 2:30 like I had thought. I looked at our schedule and he was right, I also looked at what our next activity was suppose to be and couldn't bring myself to tell 15 boys that they couldn't swim anymore and we all had to go to Dancing. We passed the world along through another counselor who was heading up the hill to upper camp where dancing was (the pool is at the bottom of the hill, and it's a pain to walk up and down it all day if you don't have to) that our group wouldn't be making it and the specialist could go home early if she wanted. According to my other counselor, the woman who does dancing is cool and probably wouldn't mind. I know I wouldn't mind if I got to leave early on the first day.

So we stayed at the pool longer than we should have, nobody noticed or minded. It was the first day after all, everyone just chalked any craziness up to that fact. The kids didn't mind that we missed dance, like I thought. We got them changed and back up the hill for popsicles and pick up close to right on time. We took turns taking kids to buses and afternoons supervision (some kids parents come later or some kids have a bus that comes later), the buses left close to on time and then the parents were allowed to come up. Pick up went smoothly for the first day, so I'm told, and I was on the road by 5.

Tuesday:

We had a knotting class. Our group got the first knot (which was suppose to be the whole half an hour lesson) within the first five minutes. So the specialist moved on to another knot that was a bit more challenging. Most of the kids got it quickly and moved on to the playground, but some stayed behind to practice and learn more knots. The girls ran off to play with another group of girls who had started a game of Red Rover and stayed with them until we moved on to the next activity. Meanwhile, the next time I look over at our specialist, one of the boys is tying his hands behind his back with a newly learned knot.

Turns out, the specialist told him to, so he could see if he could get out of it or not. *Shakes head* Boys...So the rest of the day I told people that my group tied up the knotting specialist.

Wednesday:

We had archery on Wednesday and everyone had been looking forward to it all week. Most of the kids could hit the target with at least one of their three arrows, but some flew way over and behind them. I got two arrows in the yellow portion that is in the middle (one of which landed in the very middle circle) and most of the boys saw this. I had hoped it would keep them in line later on knowing that I could hit a bullseye with a bow and arrow ;)

Thursday:

During the lunch period on Thursday, but after most of the kids had finished their lunch, some of the boys began fighting with their towels. Not twisting them up tight and whipping them at each other, more like just swinging them around trying to hit each other. Since we each lunch indoors and there were no other groups around, I didn't mind because there was really no one else for them to hurt in their little game. On the one hand, I wanted to be the cool counselor to show them how to roll up their towels and snap them at each other. But on the other hand, I didn't need 15 boys rolling up their towels and whipping each other near me and in an enclosed area.

Friday:

After karate class on Friday, but before the period was over, we played a game called "Tiger Tales" which is where two people face each other, both with a bandanna tucked in their belts and try to get the other person's without losing their own. The karate specialist purposely saved me and my co-counselor for last, knowing the kids would want to see us face each other, and he was right. During our round, I could hear the kids betting on who they thought was going to win. I didn't think they were serious. I won, surprisingly (my co-counselor has a good two inches of height on me and is way more athletic), and when I sat down, one of the boys leans over to me and says, "You won me half a popsicle!"

Everyone, at the end of the day during dismissal, gets a popsicle. They are the ones that are like two popsicles stuck together with the two sticks and everything, so it was easy for the boys to bet halves of popsicles. I still couldn't believe that they were actually betting, but I did notice when we did finally get popsicles that everyone was eating a whole one and no one gave up the halves that they had lost.

I also had to deal with my first crier of the summer. One of the boys constantly lost game after game of chicken on the playground and wasn't happy, he felt he had a disadvantage because he had a band-aid on each of his hands. But I talked to him for a little bit and got him to calm down enough to practice balancing with me on another section of the playground and he was happy again in a few minutes. He actually went back to playing chicken with everyone else and didn't mind when he lost. No biggie.

So that was the first week. I keep telling my friends that no matter how bad it seems (whether it's 95 degrees with lots of humidity or it takes me an hour and a half to get home because of traffic), it's still sooo much better than working at a restaurant with customers. I've always been one to work a lower paying job that I enjoyed rather than a higher paying job that I hated. My dad is the other way around and while his personality type can stand that, mine can only take it for so long. I am so happy at camp, I'm having so much fun, and I can't believe I'm getting paid to do what I'm doing. This is the kind of stuff I'd do as a volunteer for my church or something, so to get paid for it is awesome. I thought I was going to have a hard time with it and the kids weren't going to listen at all, but we seem to be doing pretty well, even the specialists say we have a pretty good group. I just hope this will all carry through to the end of the summer.

Blog Name

2007-06-20T20:09:00.000-04:00

Flagpole is the official beginning of each day of camp. Two staff members get up on the stage with microphones and get the kids excited and wake them up by singing fun and easy songs. Today, the third day of camp, we sang "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More", which I had not heard before and had stuck in my head all day. When I looked for the lyrics we sang this morning online, I couldn't find them, but found lyrics that had the same tune and refrain (pretty close anyway). I thought the title of the song matched fairly well with my recent job change from the customer service industry to a summer camp, thus the name of my newest blog.

In case you were wondering, here are the lyrics I found (some of the others were actually pretty horrific about Mary and her little lamb...):

ARTIST: Trad and Anon
TITLE: It Ain't Gonna Rain No More, No More

{Refrain}
It ain't gonna rain no more, no more
It ain't gonna rain no more
How in the heck can I wash my neck
If it ain't gonna rain no more

Oh, a peanut sat on the railroad track
It's heart was all a-flutter
Around the bend came Number Ten
Toot! Toot! Peanut butter

{Refrain}

Oh, my uncle built a chimney
He built it up so high
He had to tear it down again
To let the moon go by!

{Refrain}

Oh, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck
If a woodchuck could chuck wood
If he held a saw in his little paw
A ton of wood he could

{Refrain}

Oh, it isn't going to rain anymore, anymore
It isn't going to rain anymore
The grammar's good, but what a bore
So we'll sing it like before

{Refrain}

A man laid down by the sewer
And by the sewer he died
And at the coroners inquest
They called it "sewercide"

{Refrain}

A rich man rides a taxi
A poor man rides a train
A bum he walks the railroad tracks
And he gets there just the same

{Refrain}